“Some four days ago, in the city of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, I encountered this one incident that shook me to the core. While I was coming back with my mom, I saw an old lady sitting at a signal near a traffic police cabin in front of the city’s government hospital where my mother happens to work. I gave her some money thinking of her as an ordinary beggar but as I went closer, I heard her sobbing and crying all by herself. When I asked her the reason, she said she was having a fever and was in pain. My mother somehow managed to get medicine for her and gave it to her.
After I dropped my mother, I went back to check on her and give her some water so as she could take medicine. Again I saw her crying in pain but not taking medicine. I made her take it anyway and managed to talk to her. She told me she came to the city a day ago to beg and had left her home owing to some feud with her son and daughter-in-law. What I noticed that at some point that she was afraid to disclose their identities and started pleading that they had nothing to do with her condition and she is solely responsible for her condition. I gave her some money to eat as she was starving and was burning with fever. But my heart sank thinking about what if she doesn’t get a proper aid, so I called the state helpline number addressing them about her situation. They promised that they would do whatever they could and I went to a local traffic police officer and requested him to keep an eye on her. But after I left for my bus, she too left for someplace. I hope she might have got some help.
This post is not just to get an appreciation but to rather highlight that there are many other older citizens like this lady who are either thrown out or made to leave their houses to lead a debilitating life like this. To all the sons and daughters, if this is the life you are offering to the parents who gave you their world, I hope someday you won’t be facing the same thing. Help and aid must be provided to senior citizens because all they need is compassion, love and trust.”
Story By – Vidisha Punetha
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